Mark Pritchard MP: speeches

Speeches

• 10 Sept 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  His Majesty’s Prison Stoke Heath in Shropshire has seen six deaths in custody in less than two years. That is above the national average. Will the Prime Minister join me in calling on the Ministry of Justice to ensure that there are enough resources and that the right governance is in place at Stoke Heath?

• 10 Sept 2025 · Russian Drones: Violation of Polish Airspace · Hansard source

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  Let us be clear: this is no accidental violation of Poland’s—or NATO’s—airspace. As NATO members, one could argue that it is actually a violation of our own airspace. Is it not clear that Russia is testing NATO’s resolve, and that Putin will ruthlessly exploit any real or perceived diplomatic, military or political weakness? I get the Minister’s point on calibration and proportionality, but what does a robust response mean? Following on from an earlier question from the Labour Benches, given that there are many Russian ships in the English channel and around these isles from which drones could easily be deployed, what about UK air defences?

• 8 Sept 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T9. Pensions forfeiture for ex-armed forces personnel is rare—it is usually reserved for cases of serious criminal activity and those with serious criminal convictions—but is it not time that the small number of ex-forces personnel from this country who are shamefully fighting for the Russian Federation, either directly in Ukraine or through proxies in north Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, had their pensions cancelled?

• 8 Sept 2025 · Defence Sector: Innovation · Hansard source

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  That is the story of my life—I am always the reserve, but I am always happy to step in. [ Laughter. ] Boxer, Challenger 3 and now the gun barrel facility are going to be based in my constituency—well, I hope the latter will be in my constituency, but certainly in Shropshire. Will the Secretary of State put on the record his thanks for all the work of the men and women —the new engineers, the 100 new employees—taken on for the Boxer programme since March by Rheinmetall Defence and Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land? Shropshire is a defence hub, and I ask the new ministerial team—some of them are here for me to welcome them today—whether the Government will continue to invest in Shropshire, recognising the link between local universities and colleges, and the defence supply chain.

• 8 Sept 2025 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source

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  Order. Before I call the Front Benchers, an update from the Chamber: there are apparently more Members standing now than there were even 10 minutes ago. At the discretion of the shadow Minister and the Minister, we can run the debate for the full time to 7.30 pm, which is great.

• 8 Sept 2025 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source

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  Order. Votes in the House are always, as we know, a moveable feast. However, it is likely that there will be eight votes later this evening, so perhaps everybody here in Westminster Hall could keep an eye on the main Chamber, unless they want to come back here later in—I don’t know—95 minutes. It is entirely up to Members, because I will not be here, but they will.

• 8 Sept 2025 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source

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  May I just say to the Minister that his socks are in order? The Clerks are excellent, because I now know that the first reference to socks in the House of Commons was in 1842, in a manufacturing debate. To reassure him, there is no mention whatever of socks in the “Rules of behaviour and courtesies in the House of Commons” or in “Erskine May”, which of course was first published in 1844. Members can therefore all be reassured, and certainly the Minister can be: his socks are in order. There is a ruling.

• 8 Sept 2025 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source

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  I call the Minister, and congratulate him on his new position.

• 2 Sept 2025 · Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse · Hansard source

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  I am glad that the Minister wants to put victims and survivors first, and I hope the whole House will join her in that. It is absolutely right that we all do so. She will be aware of the Tom Crowther inquiry, which highlighted 1,000 victims over 30 years in Telford and in some parts of my constituency. Earlier, the Minister said to the House that we do not want victims to have to undergo “a repetitive exercise”. I understand why she said that, but would she support the national inquiry going back to Telford to ensure that things that should have been done, but that still have not been done, will be done? Will she also ensure that the Labour council—forgive me—in Telford and Wrekin will not stand in the way of that progress?

• 2 Sept 2025 · Sudan · Hansard source

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  Do the Government actually have an Africa strategy—not just for north Africa, but for sub-Saharan Africa—and does the Foreign Secretary share my concern about the apparent lack of focus on the importance of sub-Saharan Africa to the security of the United States, let alone to our security and that of Africa itself? I encourage the Foreign Secretary to reach out to the US Secretary of State, and to join European partners in having a joined-up Africa strategy to deal with climate change, famine and terrorism in the Sahel and all across Africa—issues that are impacting on communities there, and on legal migration to this country. Will he work with his American partners?

• 1 Sept 2025 · Borders and Asylum · Hansard source

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  Does the Home Secretary accept that some of the UK’s adversaries are seeking to weaponise illegal migration, and does she share my concern about the growing nexus between malign state actors and non-state actors, such as the criminal gangs she has mentioned? If she accepts that that collaboration and malevolent co-operation is going on, does she then agree that it is a national security threat and that even though there will be more counter-terrorism powers under the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill for the National Crime Agency, which I welcome, there should also be more collaboration between the Security Service and the National Crime Agency?

• 21 Jul 2025 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  The Environment Agency estimates that there are 4 million regular and occasional anglers throughout the United Kingdom, with 1.2 million getting fishing licences last year. Angling across the country is worth about £3 billion to the economy and it is the favourite pastime in this country, as the Secretary of State will know. Will he give an undertaking to all the anglers throughout this country that they will be fully engaged by the new regulator?

• 17 Jul 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  If I asked the Leader of the House, “1666—what happened in that year?”, I am not quite sure— [ Interruption. ] There we are: the great fire of London. In fact, it was also the last time anyone in Parliament was fined for lying to Parliament. Of course, there is the ministerial code, the Nolan principles and the contempt of Parliament procedures, but there has not been a fine since that year. For Members and non-Members alike, where is the deterrent? What is the incentive, even, for telling the truth to this place? Ministers, of course, can be brought back to the House to correct the record, but for people giving evidence to Select Committees, for instance, there really is a gap at the moment. Is it not time we put fines on a statutory basis for Members and non-Members alike so that we can be assured that people are incentivised to tell the truth and, should they be tempted not to tell the truth, there is a deterrent?

• 17 Jul 2025 · Ukraine · Hansard source

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  Operation Orbital is the UK training programme for the Ukrainian military. Can the Secretary of State confirm that that personal and personnel data is safe at the Ministry of Defence? He mentioned there being 15,000 drone attacks over the last four months, and he referenced meeting with Germans to look at counter-drone munitions and capabilities, but of course, Ukrainians are being attacked right now—today. What thought has been given to the use of the RAF’s Tucano aircraft, which I think are now out of service? I wonder where they are. Could they be redeployed? Could a variant of the Grob turboprop trainer perhaps be provided? These slow-flying aircraft could interdict Shahed drones, for example, and they are low-cost and low-maintenance.

• 15 Jul 2025 · Afghanistan · Hansard source

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  If the Defence Secretary will forgive me, I detect some wriggling. The fact is that he is justifying this super-injunction and not telling Parliament, the press, the public and, unbelievably, the Afghans who were potentially in harm’s way. Is it not the case that his argument is actually very thin? Even the MOD admits that Taliban-aligned individuals already had access to the database, so not telling those Afghans that they were in harm’s way is, quite frankly, unbelievable. The precedent of a super-injunction is very concerning for this place. How do we know that there is not another super-junction about another leak? Of course, the Secretary of State could not tell us, could he?

• 15 Jul 2025 · Clean Power: Jobs · Hansard source

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  If the Secretary of State loves Shropshire, and I am sure he does, I hope he will not bulldoze over all our green belt—but that is another story for another day. The Secretary of State talks about green jobs. I am sure he does not want our fire services to be deployed more and more, but with solar energy feeding into battery energy storage systems, there is real concern at Shropshire fire service and across the country that there will be fires that are very difficult for our fire services to control. Does the Secretary of State agree that our fire services should be a statutory consultee on future planning applications for battery storage?

• 9 Jul 2025 · Early Years Providers: Government Support · Hansard source

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  I will give an extra two minutes to the shadow Minister if she wants them, given that we have a little bit of time.

• 9 Jul 2025 · Early Years Providers: Government Support · Hansard source

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  I call the Chair of the Education Select Committee.

• 9 Jul 2025 · Glaucoma Awareness · Hansard source

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  The shadow Minister needs to be brief. He has had five minutes, and I gave six minutes to the Liberal Democrat spokesperson. I will give the shadow Minister another 30 seconds.

• 9 Jul 2025 · Glaucoma Awareness · Hansard source

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  To be clear, it is important that the Chair is both neutral and fair in the distribution of time.

• 26 Jun 2025 · G7 and NATO Summits · Hansard source

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  Although we may disagree on the detail, I agree with the Prime Minister that, as far as possible in this place, it would be better to keep partisan politics out of national security issues. Who knows, I may get the Whip withdrawn for saying that, but so be it. There are things that go beyond party politics. I thank the Prime Minister for all his hard work in the national security interests of this country. On the G7, the Prime Minister mentioned sanctions. In his statement, he said that he urged the United States to do more on sanctions. Is he aware that the United States is actually urging the United Kingdom to do more on sanctions when it comes to Russia? Can the Magnitsky legislation be widened and deepened, so that it captures more Russian assets, and possibly other countries that may have sanctions imposed on them soon—for example, Georgia? The joint expeditionary force was mentioned at the NATO summit. The Prime Minister will know, having attended the Norway meeting some weeks ago, that Ukraine is a JEF partnership nation. Does the UK support Ukraine becoming a full member of the joint expeditionary force? If so, when might that happen?

• 24 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Melia, Gvaramia, Badri Japaridze, Khazaradze, Zurab Japaridze and Vashadze: all six opposition leaders arrested over the last two weeks in Georgia. What are the British Government going to do about it, and what is the message from the British Government to the Georgian people, who are suffering as a result of this huge democratic backsliding?

• 24 Jun 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  Israel dealing with Hamas and Hezbollah is to be welcomed, but the continuing blockage on medical and humanitarian aid going into Gaza is not welcome. As we continue to talk, children continue to die. I hope that the Foreign Secretary will make it very clear that the continuation of children dying every single day is unacceptable, and that he will stand up to the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon and to the Knesset and the current Israeli Government of Netanyahu. These deaths are just going on and on and on. How many more children need to die before something changes?

• 16 Jun 2025 · Iran-Israel Conflict · Hansard source

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  I agree with the Foreign Secretary that a nuclear-armed Iran is not in Israel’s national security interests or in the security interests of other countries in the region—or indeed of this country, which has received direct threats from the current Iranian regime. Some 8,000 UK nationals are living on RAF Akrotiri along with 7,500 Cypriots and others also working on base—some civilian; most in uniform. What reassurance can he give those on the base that they are safe from Iranian threats?

• 16 Jun 2025 · Child Sexual Exploitation: Casey Report · Hansard source

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  Regardless of whether local inquiries are commissioned by councils, will there be an opportunity for those same areas to fall under the remit of the national inquiry, to ensure that some of the ongoing issues to which the Home Secretary herself has referred are caught within the new framework of the inquiry?